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Disclosure: I received an Advance Reader’s Copy (ARC) of this book from the publisher, via TLC Book Tours, for the purposes of this review. The book is now available for purchase. *Purchasing links in this review are through my Amazon Affiliate account and will generate a small referral fee for me, if used.

Opening Lines: “First: I got fired. For emailing a website with hundreds of pictures of breasts to every single person in our company. Even the CEO and chairman of the board. Even the summer interns. Looking back, I may have been ready to leave my job. I’d like to give myself the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes the crazy things I do are actually very sensible. And sometimes, of course, they’re just crazy.”

Book description: Sarah Harper isn’t sure if the stupid decisions she sometimes makes are good choices in disguise—or if they’re really just stupid. But either way, after forwarding an inappropriate email to her entire company, she suddenly finds herself out of a job.

So she goes home to Houston—and her sister, Mackie—for Thanksgiving. But before Sarah can share her troubles with her sister, she learns that Mackie has some woes of her own: After years of trying, Mackie’s given up on having a baby—and plans to sell on eBay the entire nursery she’s set up. Which gives Sarah a brilliant idea—an idea that could fix everyone’s problems. An idea that gives Sarah the chance to take care of her big sister for once—instead of the other way around.

But nothing worthwhile is ever easy. After a decade away, Sarah is forced to confront one ghost from her past after another: the father she’s lost touch with, the memories of her mother, the sweet guy she dumped horribly in high school. Soon everything that matters is on the line—and Sarah can only hope that by changing her life she has changed her luck, too.

Comments: I’ve been trying to get around to reading one of Katherine Center’s novels for a while, and Get Lucky was a good place to start. The novel trods on some serious territory, but with a light touch, and features an appealing – if sometimes frustrating – leading character.

Sarah Harper is a woman who fully invests herself in whatever she’s doing – one thing at a time. For the last several years, that singular focus has been applied to her New York City advertising career – most recently, to a bra campaign that looks like it could be her biggest triumph ever. Unfortunately, the triumph is dampened by her being fired the day the campaign is unveiled – even though the e-mail she sent the entire company the night before was vaguely related to the project, it was still highly inappropriate.

But Sarah does tend to act on impulse. Returning home to Houston for the holidays just after being fired, she learns that her sister Mackie has been forced to end her own singular-focus project – trying to get pregnant. It isn’t long before Sarah comes up with an idea that will give her a new focus and benefit her sister, too. The project that the sisters undertake together probably isn’t something that should be entered this impulsively, but it’s certainly well-intentioned. And as that effort approaches its end, her impulsiveness and good intentions bring Sarah a new job…and the possibility of a very different future.

The story is told through Sarah’s first-person narration several years after these events, and Sarah’s reflection on them from that perspective is where much of the humor and insight in the novel comes through – looking back, she can see much more clearly how much she didn’t see at the time. Many of the complications Sarah didn’t foresee are rather obvious to the reader, though – they were to me, at any rate, but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment, because I liked Sarah. I’d have liked her to be a bit more self-aware at the time she went through these experiences, but life doesn’t necessarily work like that, so I can’t really begrudge it even if I did find it frustrating at times.

The structure of the book reflects Sarah’s “one thing at a time” focus, and I appreciated that the main objects of that focus were her work and her relationship…with her sister. Sisterhood is powerful and often complicated even under the best conditions, and while carrying a pregnancy for your sister is certainly an act of devotion and generosity, it’s also pretty risky. I liked the way Center explored Sarah and Mackie’s relationship.

Get Lucky was a quick read, one that made me chuckle, made me think a little, and drew me into the lives of its characters. I have another of Katherine Center’s books buried in TBR Purgatory, and I’ll be digging it out soon so I can read her again.

It has taken 6 years and almost 7 months to accumulate 2000 posts on The 3 R’s Blog, but it happened yesterday. Post number 2001 seems like a good place to pause and consider how I got here, and where to go now that I am here. The last time I reviewed blog stats was the end of 2011 (I only looked at reading stats in 2012). I think this is a good occasion to […]

I usually do a little year-end number-crunching in the process of coming up with my Books of the Year, but this year I decided to share those before I put up the stats. However, before I get to the Bookkeeping, I have answers to some questions from the “Book Blogging/Reading Life” section of Jamie‘s annual End-of-Year Book Survey. Favorite review that you wrote in 2012? If I leave my Books of the Year reviews out […]

Just a few weeks ago – while we were at Comic-Con, actually, two weekends before BlogHer’10 – I told Tall Paul that after attending for two years running, I wasn’t sure about going to BlogHer next year. We had already decided we wanted to go to Comic-Con again (we’re anxiously waiting for online registration to open, and we really want the four-day passes this time!). Sure, the event is crazy and crowded, but it’s just […]

Inspired by Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness (and others), I’m taking a look back at my half-year in reading. (Since I’m still typing one-handed, it will be a relatively brief look.) I’m pretty satisfied with my 2010 reading so far, both in quality and numbers. Currently, my LibraryThing reviews are more up-to-date than my reviews on the blog; I’ve changed my routine to post them there as soon as they’re written, while the reviews here post […]

Reading Progress and Plans I’m trying to finish reading Nothing but Ghosts by Beth Kephart this weekend, and I think I’ll accomplish that. I’ll be reviewing it in tandem with Beth’s earlier YA novel, Undercover – I may not post it till next week, though, so as not to divert attention from my review of The Sparrow (see the Read-Along note below). Both of those books count for my Blogging Authors Reading Project, as does […]

BREAKING NEWS: GUESS WHO’S BEEN PUBLISHED – IN AN ACTUAL BOOK?! I haven’t previously shared the details of this with anyone except my husband because I didn’t entirely believe it would happen, but a post of mine from September 2007 has been published in an essay anthology. (I’m trying to sound matter-of-fact about it, but trust me, I’m totally SQUEE-ing on the inside!) Early last year, I received an e-mail “…to inquire about an essay […]

Since we’re barely into 2010, I don’t think the statute of limitations for reflecting a little more on 2009 has run out yet. The Meme Thief stole this “New Year’s Meme” from Jo-Lynne at Musings of a Housewife, but other bloggers have posted it too. 1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? I went to my first conference of any kind – how nice that it was a blogging conference! […]

I “borrowed” this first line meme from Kristen at BookNAround – it suggests that taking the first line of the first post of each month of the year will make an interesting portrait of your blogging year. I guess it depends on how you define “interesting,” but let me know if you can spot a theme here. I don’t see one, other than the fact that several of my “firsts” were Weekend Assignments. However, you […]

BOOKKEEPING: The Reading Status Report Book reviews posted: None since July 20(!!). Conferencing, and following it up with a lot of writing, took a serious toll on reading time! I have good intentions to get back on the train in August, though – at least partly spurred by review obligations that actually have due dates – so wish me luck with improving my record! Upcoming reviews: Wife of the Gods: A Novel, by Kwei Quartey […]

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